September 3, 2005
-
an indian journey
I open
many doors in your mind
unveiling its vistas before you
ones not perhaps earlier seen or heard of
as you partake
from our shared immerse
My eddies
swirl around you
a country, thats as much as you want it to be
to impact your curiousity…interest you
or leave you breathless, imprinted with
my touch
Felt and seen
through prisms of exist
familiar roots, like yours
soo long a part of my antiquity too
as it pedals or speeds
distilling itself an ethos
An ever evolving one
as a bridge between times
I be so much older than many that mark
an eons passage
or as young in spirit
as fresh…dew-laden flowers
That bloom
shyly bud, revealing themselves
in my misty sun-drenched winter mornings
curtain-raisers indeed
on every new days rebirth
a rewriting…of old lives
I am a nation vast
a billion plus too many
or just one
you may share with, in interact
resplendent in cultures, that transcend the all-consuming
monotony of singularity
A diverse land
of pasts as ancient as humanity itself
embroidered with rich historical passages
towards a future…as yet untapped in potential
both, as a bargain hunter’s paradise
or a connoisseur’s…heaven
I am a cradle rocked
by mother-nature’s bounties
or her wrath
for even ‘death’ becomes me
as my old gives in gracefully to nurture my new
in a renewal of promise
Self-refreshed vitality
like a monsoon…effusive
greening life as it surges welling out from within
my every pore
in oozing lusts to live…beyond the routine of mere survival
in repetitive life-death cycles
I catalyze break-a-ways
un-shackled in freedoms
in an ambiance transliterating envisioned dreams
or passions subtle intensities
to artifacts…carved or shaped from my very rock and substance
as edifying poems in metaphor
In mediums
of fused metal or clay…fiery constructs
cast in a dance of creation or destruction…epic words
in digital encode or analogue continium
weaving tapestry in layers, that grace
both commoner and King
My people
have engineered monuments
amazing in imagine
encouraged minds that have pondered
meaningful content in zero’s emptiness…or delved into concepts
seemingly unquantifiable to most
Foundations…the bedrocks
of empowered thinking…my poetic quest
in an ode to man’s innate curiousity
or a woman’s beautiful…quintessential essence…sought
a platform nurturing minds
steeped in nuances of life
A varied grammar
of many inter-related philosophies
and varied…religious callings, are my people
people, who in humility
have greatfully accepted without much rancor…so much and many
from the worlds outside
Domains far beyond deemed borders
or invasive spheres of influence
that have…in giving or taking
in reasoned consent, or absorbtion…sensitized my nationhood
anchoring it…in geo-political compulsions or divine faith
my multifaceted spirituality
Belief reflecting endlessly
in mirroring civilizations
in their perceived colors of worth…in perspective
a fortune uniquely ours and seen so, as inertial or progressive
empowered by a generous predisposition
to be more
Atypically…like my environ
with jagged spires touching impossible highs
draped in ethereal white…a reaching out, to the gods themselves
with offerings of unspoilt pristine landscapes
a raw challenge
to an alternate less-tamed universe
Grained in sparse
surreal strokes of earthy colours.
my desert canvas of sand-seas and weathered rocks…sculpted
in light and shade of a full moon
or the harsher glare of the mid-day sun
as fractal clouds or tidal oceans that lap or rage
at my maritime shores
A man’s island, or a beach-head
where communion meditates
in-search for answers….from eternity
in fecund bowels of the mystic…rain forests harboring countless
in their bio-diversity…humanities last reservoirs
of genetic deliverance
Come
meet my people
my civilizations teeming strength
as representatives of my depths…a citizenry wide ranging
building worlds within worlds…and beyond
in their heat and dust…knitted not divided by karma
Expressed…in languages
in stratified connect…a chorus of my many sides
voicing their song…an aria melodious
strummed in classical notes, firmly rooted in their ground
that subliminally beckons
and stirs within
A forgotten self
born again…to what really matters…
and counts, in awakened introspects…spelling out
to a jaded mindset…I am this…yes
but…have more to give
if…you so desire
I am India
do come, and visit me
Atithi Devo Bhavah…our guest…is god
